Did I Cook My Laptop

I’ve had an Inspiron 1525 for over a year now.  I never had a day’s trouble from it until Saturday.  I placed the power cord into the power connection (slot/hole) due to the message the battery was getting low.  Once inserted a “ssss” sound came from the slot area, followed by a small puff of white smoke.  The smoke didn’t smell as if something was burning, more like new plastic.  I removed the power cord (which was very warm to the touch), gave things time to cool down, then removed the panel so I could see the power connection (small black box).  I was using the original power cord that came with the laptop. Nothing looked out of place and there were no signs of burning or charring. I did not remove anything else (I didn’t get a look under the circuit panel that the power connector is attached to.  The only thing that seemed odd was a silver wire or cord that had a white plastic cap attached on the end. It wasn’t connected to anything.  I followed the path of the cord and it entered a slot on the panel that separated the area I was in and the keyboard area.  Over my head at this point, I placed everything (screws and panel) back to its proper place.  The power cord is making no connection now and of course the laptop battery in dead since I was unable to charge it before “ssss” and the puff of smoke.   YES, the computer was operational after all this happened and I removed the power cord.  I got about 5 minutes of operation, before the battery was completely dead.

Does it sound like I fried my laptop beyond repair?  I’ve done a couple of web searches and there are instructions to replace the power connector on the circuit board, if that is in fact the problem.  The question is (if it is just a bad power connector box) is it worth the money to have it fixed?  Thanks in advance for any suggestions.